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Metal, water, whatever 78

Posted on May 12, 2014 by

For your licence fee today:

The talk of the town 294

Posted on May 05, 2014 by

Readers will know that as a rule we don’t just pinch bits of other peoples’ work wholesale, but in this particular case, given that the entire UK media’s been going on about it misleadingly for a solid week and still shows no sign of stopping, it seemed only fair that everyone should be up to speed on the source.

gqsalmond1

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Something to believe in 177

Posted on May 05, 2014 by

It’s a Bank Holiday and frankly there’s absolutely bugger-all of any interest in the news today, so I hope you’ll forgive me a personal indulgence, readers. I’ve only used the personal pronoun for a couple of Wings articles out of over 2,300 in the site’s two and a half years of existence, because the independence debate isn’t about me. But a curious piece in today’s Herald by David Torrance merits such a response.

If you don’t see what it’s got to do with that video*, bear with me.

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Why don’t you go back to Islamia? 253

Posted on May 03, 2014 by

We’ve quite frequently highlighted the ugly, irresponsible tone of the No campaign’s – and especially Labour’s – comments about “foreigners” in the independence debate. And the reason we do is because that sort of language feeds attitudes like these.

joanhenry1

There is, sadly, more where that came from.

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The belly of the beast 164

Posted on April 29, 2014 by

I had no idea what to expect from the UKIP public meeting in Bath tonight. The city is genteel, wealthy and has been solidly Lib Dem for over 20 years. While there are of course some sketchier areas and it hasn’t been immune to the UK’s recent economic troubles, generally speaking it has little to complain about.

So when UKIP booked the 730 downstairs capacity of the Forum (a rather beautiful old Art Deco former cinema from the 1930s) for a public meeting, I hung onto the hope that there was at least a reasonable chance it’d be half-empty.

ukipf1

No luck there, then.

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No That’s What I Call Music 56

Posted on April 13, 2014 by

We’re off to watch the Scottish Cup semi-final now, so to keep you all entertained for the next couple of hours here’s a little something we put together at the request of columnist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, and for anyone who was listening to Radio Scotland’s “Headlines” this morning.

Hopefully we won’t need it ourselves by 3.30pm. #COYR

Anything you can do 102

Posted on April 09, 2014 by

If it’s Wednesday, Labour must have changed their position on their future-devolution proposals again. Following our latest highlighting of the glaring contradictions in the shambolic “Devo Nano” plans, responses have started arriving to your letters.

oscillate

If you’ve been listening closely, you’ll have heard that the position on whether the Scottish Parliament would be able to reduce taxes below the UK level has see-sawed from “No you can’t” (Johann Lamont MSP, 18 March) to “Yes you can” (Richard Baker MSP, 28 March) and back to “No you can’t” again (Tom Clarke MP, 4 April).

Well, guess what?

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Playing with fire 178

Posted on April 07, 2014 by

Earlier today we highlighted two pieces of disgraceful, mendacious smearing by The Scotsman, in conjunction with an “anonymous” Labour MP. The articles coincided with a wider campaign of demonisation across most of the Scottish and UK media against supporters of independence, backed up by elected Labour representatives on social media in what might easily be seen as a co-ordinated attack.

docherty

The tweets above are from the account of semi-literate Labour councillor for East Kilbride, James Docherty. They follow a week in which the Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray described the placing of one or more small “Yes 2014” stickers on his constituency office windows as an “out of control” escalation of intimidation and Alistair Darling accused some people objecting to a businessman sending a document full of scaremongering lies to 500 employees of his company as “shaming Scotland”.

These hysterical smears would be laughable were it not for the consequences they may yet bring about. We highlight some of those consequences below.

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From Bath To Scotland 64

Posted on April 06, 2014 by

Just for a change, a wee bit of culture for a Sunday evening.

clinker

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A passing query 278

Posted on April 04, 2014 by

As far as we’re aware, “the largest arts festival in Europe” (indeed, the largest arts festival anywhere in the world) is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

100mph

Does anyone remember Ian Murray MP being in charge of it?

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Art imitates life 98

Posted on April 01, 2014 by

This is the Guardian’s elaborate, deliberately-absurd April Fool story:

guardianfool

Ha ha! Good one!

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A short satire on triangulation 105

Posted on March 21, 2014 by

The last 40 years of UK politics accurately summarised in 30 seconds.

(From episode 3 of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, still on iPlayer at time of writing.)

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    • Northcode on Anything But That: “My earlier comment was referring to Professor Black’s formal legal argument (for example in “For England, Nothing Changed”). In that…Sep 10, 18:02
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    • James Che on Anything But That: “Aidan, Surely a supposed created State hundreds of years ago is still relevant to both Scotland and England today.as neither…Sep 10, 16:26
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    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “It is even more frightening when the government try’s to change history to fit their ideology.Sep 10, 15:58
    • James Che on Anything But That: “North code. Indeed, Prof Black does not go as far as Westminster parliament in 2026 in Stating there is Not…Sep 10, 15:55
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    • Aidan on Anything But That: “@Northcode – you’re generally right, however Professor Black contends that because Scotland was effectively amalgamated into a greater England, this…Sep 10, 15:33
    • Northcode on Anything But That: “I’ve read Black’s legal opinion in detail, and he doesn’t argue that the Union is invalid or that Scotland was…Sep 10, 15:17
    • Willie on Anything But That: “Most interesting comment about the legal position of the so called union. Professor Black is absolutely clear on the matter,…Sep 10, 15:13
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    • James Che on Anything But That: “Mark Beggan. Also many thanks for your response on my behalf, I had visitors in so was a bit occupied.…Sep 10, 14:42
    • James Che on Anything But That: “Sam, I had read the gist of that history, but many thanks for providing more details.much appreciated as all history…Sep 10, 14:37
    • Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “I see the point. There is a whole generation of young students who are totally brain dead. The foot soldiers…Sep 10, 14:25
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “We don’t have 20 years. That’s true whether you’re a yoon or a die-hard blood and soil Scottish nationalist. There…Sep 10, 14:23
    • sarah on Anything But That: “Most Wings’ readers wish Scotland to be restored as an independent state. To understand the reasoning behind Salvo and the…Sep 10, 14:20
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